RMS students ‘Mix It Up at Lunch’

It can be argued that students today are living a life that in many respects does not resemble that of their parents or grandparents.

For one thing, technology has allowed them to become global learners and citizens of the world. The expression “It’s a small world” does not have the same luster or mystical feel as it once did.  Technology and the Internet have given students possibilities, opportunities and opened doors to social exchanges that would not have been possible a few decades ago.  The advent of portals like Facebook, MySpace and others like them have given young people the ability to reach places and people like in no other generation.

What happens, however, when you take the flat screen, the wireless keyboard and the wireless mouse away? What happens when their social networking and their gaming experience reverts back to the school house, the lunch room and the playground? 

Walk in any middle or high school today and you’ll notice that the social, racial and ethnic barriers that are nonexistent in cyberspace are very much alive in the school cafeteria and playground. Ask any student in middle or high school about the “groups” that exist in their school and they’ll give you a whole list of groups and cliques without taking a breath. Things that happen in cyberspace do not seem so easy when you are dealing with a person in front of you.

Consider what would happen if you gave these groups of students the opportunity and the encouragement to cross social, ethnic or racial divides?  A study by social psychologists Elaine and Art Aron, reported in the New York Times, showed that bringing strangers together for hour-long icebreaker sessions and games reduced the level of prejudice and increased the level of acceptance and trust they felt for the other person.

Ramstein Middle School students experienced just that Nov. 13. They joined thousands of other students like them in the nationwide campaign that encourages and supports students who want to identify, question and cross social boundaries.

They were part of the “Mix It Up at Lunch” campaign, sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center: Teaching Tolerance. This project is dedicated to reducing prejudice, improving intergroup relations and supporting equitable school experiences for our nation’s children.

Here are some of the things students had to say about the experience:

• “Even though it is scary, it lets people come

out of their shell and meet new people.”

– Emily Ayers

• “I would like to do it again because it is a

good opportunity to meet someone new.”

– Marissa Lozano

• “It was something new and I felt like I made a

good friend.” – Chris Engelbaum

• “Its cool to learn new things about people.”

– Zachery Villarreal

• “I made a new friend.” – Logan Peters

• “It rocks!” – Malcolm Williams